Prostitution in Canada

Prostitution, sometimes referred to as “the world’s oldest profession” (Henslin, pg. 54), is defined by James M. Henslin as “the renting of one’s body for sexual purposes” (pg. 54). This arrangement, though illegal and socially deviant in most parts of the world, exists universally in many different forms (pg. 54). As a matter of fact, types of prostitutes range greatly in variety from call girls – who are said to be “the elite of prostitutes” (pg. 58), to streetwalkers – “who have the lowest status among prostitutes” (pg. 58), to sugar babies -young, physically attractive women who provide “rich, older men” (Kitchener, par.4) “…with attention (and sex) in exchange for the finer things in life” (par. 4).

It is rather odd to think that prostitution, which is considered to be the world’s oldest profession, would be illegal and harmful in nature. The issue of legalizing prostitution has entered public conversation around the world, which is severely divided. Many, like myself, consider prostitution to be a victimless crime. Despite such opposition to legalizing prostitution, many argue that legalizing it would result in decreased morality issues, increase the economic activity in the United States, and help decrease the number of sexually transmitted diseases among both prostitutes and those who patronize them,

Traditionally prostitution was viewed as a consensual act, one person selling sexual favors to a willing buyer. Used in many classes as an example of “Mala Prohibita” when differentiating between “Mala Prohibita” and “Mala in Se” (conduct that is illegal because it is prohibited vs. conduct that is illegal because it is inherently wrong or evil). This is perhaps true about prostitution in its simplest form (an independent adult seller deciding with their own free will to perform sexual acts with another adult individual in exchange for money or other compensation).

These teenagers don’t only go true all these troubles they are often expose to sexually transmitted disease and unwanted pregnancies. But their customers are also in the risk of getting any viral disease and then transmitted to their wife and in many cases to their children which will propagate all this virus disease to the community. Juvenile prostitution is often most of the time not voluntary and is accompanied by fear, hunger, and many more circumstance. For other youth prostitution is the only way of making money quickly. This is the brain wash that they resive at the bigining that they are recruited by women’s who are prostitutes and are in charge by their pimps to

Many women are coerced into prostitution by men claiming to want to help them; these men are nothing more than pimps, often getting the women dependent on drugs and using their dependence to control the women. The prostitutes sustain repeated physical and sexual assaults at the hand of both their pimps and their clients; these

Prostitution has always been a worldwide problem especially in Chicago, Illinois. The exploitation of prostitution seems to be one of many serious issues in inner-city Chicago. Some may ask the question as to “what changes occur in a woman’s life to make her want to live this type of lifestyle?” Are prostitutes always the victim or do some control their work, and even enjoy sex? After experiencing human trafficking, drug addiction, and prostitution for 25 years of her teenage and adult life, Brenda Myers-Powell’s life story answered those questions. She survived the harsh lifestyle of prostitution and serves as a mentor to the youth to prevent them from encountering the trauma she did for many years of her life.

At that point in someone’s life, no one should be expected to offer sexual services to johns, which are the people that purchase these young girls for their own pleasure. Prostitution not only steals someone’s childhood, it also statistically lowers a prostitutes life span. In fact, “50% of prostitutes’ deaths are due to murder” (http://newint.org/features/2013/04/01/should-prostitution-be-legalized-argument/). By looking at a statistic such as this, people recognize that prostitution is extremely dangerous. Due to the dangers and the extremes of the occupation, prostitution leads to depression, heightened levels of anxiety, and PTSD

Prostitution can best be defined as the exchange of sexual services for a monetary compensation. While prostitution has been both a economic and a public health concern for many decades now, there is approximately only sixteen million allocated for enforcing prostitution laws and negative outcomes associated with this crime each year (Murphy, 2010). Murray (2010) sought out to explore why it is exactly that women continue to remain in this lifestyle given the potential risks of prostitution. This qualitative study consisted of studying twelve women who wee recruited from an intervention program for women who are current involved in street-level prostitution (Murphy, 2010). The sample size, although relatively small, was quite diverse as there was a vast age range between the participants, different minorities, educational levels, family backgrounds, and employment status among the women.

After considering the benefits to the legalization of prostitution, I will now continue to discuss and examine the detriments. Firstly, the largest problem of prostitution in my opinion is that it is an industry that doesn’t discriminate against children and in some instances, favors those under legal age. In the United States, at least 70 percent of women involved in prostitution were introduced into the commercial sex industry before the age of 18 (Hughes, 2007). Since soliciting occurs in an environment that is without rules or laws, it’s an occupation and lifestyle that tends to unfortunately, lure in children. According to the Crimes Against Children Research Center, the average age at which children enter sexual exploitation is between 11 and 14, although some are as young as five (Smith, 2008; U.S. Department of Justice, 2007). This raises the question, that even if prostitution is legalized, could the involvement of minors in the industry be prevented?

Prostitution is believed to be one of the oldest professions in the world. It shares many similarities with other forms of jobs opportunities; however, society views this as a behavior that violates social norms. The prostitution that each individual become can be viewed through social-conflict theory. This theory views society as an area of inequality, leading to conflict and social changes. Prostitution in our society reflects this theory, by feeling compelled to become prostitutes because women have no source of income. This was common in the nineteenth century. According to

Prostitution is defined as the act of “providing or receiving sexual acts, between a prostitute and a client, in exchange for money or some other form of remuneration” (Hock 557). The idea of exchanging sex for valuables has been around since the beginning of human society. The first reported data about prostitution was reported around 3000 B.C.E in one of the first known civilizations, Mesopotamia (Caraboi and Fierbinteanu 362). It is often referred to as “the world’s oldest profession.” Today, even though prostitution is illegal in most parts of the world, it is still prevalent worldwide with different ways to exchange sexual services for payment and many different types of prostitutes. One of these types of prostitutes are brothel workers; brothel workers work in “a house of prostitution,” a brothel, which are normally in areas where prostitution is not criminalized or is legalized (Hock 560). Like prostitution, human trafficking has been around for thousands of years and is still present today.

Women made vulnerable by poverty are most susceptible to the sex industry because they lack the resources, the education, and the economic alternatives to pursue other work possibilities. The lack of education diminishes women’s potential to gain paid employment, and desperately consent to prostitution as their survival strategy.

Many prostitutes had a childhood where they were exposed to drugs, alcohol and a parent who was involved in sex work. A large amount of people involved in sex work or prostitution are parents (Servin et al.). Parents who involve themselves in sex work, use drugs, and drink alcohol lead to the child having a higher chance of putting themselves into the same situations as a way to support themselves. Argentina Servin and her colleagues from the department of Medicine at the university of California declared that “Women who had a parent involved in sex work were more likely to report first drinking alcohol as a minor, using cocaine, being forced or coerced into sex as a minor, and recent IDU-related HIV risk” (Servin et al.). Growing up, parents are a child’s main influence. When a child sees this type of behavior the child assumes it is acceptable to do the same.

Prostitution, is a topic that is often debated on whether it is good or bad employment. There are over 42 million prostitutes in world and there are 1 million men, women, and children working in the U.S. Prostitution is a underground sex trade where women sell their bodies to men or women who pay them. The sex trade or should I say “prostitution’’is not only wrong but also very dangerous. There are people who think it’s a great way to be employed or see it as another way through life.

The social phenomenon of female juvenile prostitution is a serious problem that is difficult to understand and troublesome to acknowledge. The fact that young girls are finding their way into the complex system of prostitution is often met with disbelief (OJJDP, 2002).